1. User Authentication for Employee Recognition Programs

How will your users log into the recognition program? Will you burden your IT team or help desk with support queries for misplaced passwords? Instead, use a recognition program that does not require or store usernames or passwords. Instead they delegate to the industry standard OAuth or Single-Sign-On protocols.

2. User Provisioning

How will users be added into the recognition program? Users should be preloaded into the system so as users activate their account they can see their colleagues. Manual entry is not scalable for large organizations and even spreadsheet imports can be tedious and error prone. A modern employee recognition program should be able to sync with your user directory in the cloud, such as with Yammer, Microsoft, or your HRIS software. SCIM is the industry standard protocol for user provisioning that is supported by Microsoft Azure, Facebook, and Slack.

3. Employee Recognition Notifications and Email Deliverability

Modern employee recognition programs should utilize several channels to notify and engage users of their recognitions. Often, email is a tricky channel due to spam and phishing filters. We recommend utilizing a program that supports desktop and mobile push notifications. As a last resort, email deliverability can be addressed by ensuring email is delivered by a fixed pool of IP addresses that can be whitelisted by IT.

4. Data Privacy and Security of the Employee Recognition and Rewards Data

Depending on your industry, the sensitivity of the data sent in your recognition program may vary. Make sure your recognition software has strict privacy rules and follows industry standards such as ISO27001, SOC2, or HIPAA compliance. Also look for 3rd party vulnerability testing.

5. Integrations

Recognition programs are their best when they are top of mind which means being close to where work is getting done. Integrations into existing software toolchains are critical non-only for the success of the recognition program, but for making life easier on IT.